companies, making sure that we can work with other cities. i am very lucky to be part of the u.s. conference of mayors, and they allow me to represent san francisco as the innovative center for all the rest of the cities across the country. so we get to compare information and there. what these days i will get to talk to you while i am in washington, d.c., and you can hear what i am saying across there, so we can enjoy it -- wherever i go, you know i will be working and not fooling around. finally, we also are using technology to join our private companies in hiring san franciscans. hopefully some of your kids, some of your grandkids as well, are going to enjoy some of these great jobs in san francisco, because the companies that are here, many of them have agreed to use the virtual hiring practice called hiresf.org and share the technology to hire online send franciscans. we're doing the right here in our great city. i have a chief innovation officer, jane, who is working in my office. he keeps a good connection for both me and them members of the board of supervisors to share i

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city is tied up in knots over the so-called fiscal cliff. what are the foreign policy implications? >> one of the things i always find in congress is the minute we have budgetary restrictions -- before we even knew the word cliff with regard to this -- makes great rhetoric or demagoguery to say, we need money for at home. we do not need money for around the world. it always gets applause and it is great. but the truth is that the united states needs to be engaged around the world because we are the world power. we are a superpower, and we have interests. foreign aid, although it does other countries good, it also does us good. i worry about -- if you take foreign aid that is less than 1% of the u.s. budget, if he did a survey amongst the population, they think it is 15% and should be cut. if we start cutting foreign aid, cutting security for our diplomats around the world, being penalized and pound foolish, i think as a world power we need to maintain a robust foreign policy and make sure our people are protected. >> are we over funding foreign aid right now? what percentage increa

weight problem as much a but of them. all the welfare states focused on the inner-city and that is why the problem of poverty is so much worse in the inner-city betrays this is where of these government programs focused their attention. when people become dependent on the state, they become dependent and lose the ability to launch the surprises of enterprise. we are seeing that in europe today and we are increasingly seeing any night stays. i think this is a pivotal moment and i think the u.s. can return to his entrepreneurial inspiration. the mac so are you making a moral argument? detected at all tourism and capitalism in the birth rate, et cetera. >> i think ultimately, economics as a moral foundation. capitalism is not based on dodgy dog competition. they conduct experiments and expand

, these secret talks violate the principle of american government that would be open to every city county school board has open meeting laws you are not supposed to be meeting in secret. the argument has been like you said the only way get things done. we've gone two years and nothing has gotten done. it certainly is contrary to good public policy. >> greta: why do we continue to accept failure? don't the people working on this, we've been talking about this 18 months and we've had secret talks gang of six, eight, it has not worked maybe we ought to try something new like doing it out in the open? >> harry reid refused to bring up a budget, you and i have talked about that before. why? because he did not want a public discuss and did not want the public to layout a firm plan for how to fix our future it left us having to try desperately dramatic deadlines try to reach agreement among -- with a pew people in meetings negotiateing that is not what american democracy is about. >> greta: interesting looking at this democratic presidency with the last one, bill clinton, president obama almost

have been springing up in the capital. it's fast development has brought problems. the city's plagued with frequent blackouts. a flashlight is a must item for many people. utilities are having a hard time to meet the growing demand for electricity. that's because of their heavy reliance on hydropouter. there's no rain even during the rainy season is standing in the way. the government is scrambling to promote geothermal power which is not influenced by the weather. >> we're looking into getting into 50/50%. 50% geothermal and 50% the others. the future is quite bright. >> reporter: tough technical problems have been keeping geothermal energy down to 50% of all power sources in kenya. that's prompted the government to turn to japan, a volcanic country. it's been trying to introduce japan's cutting edge generator turbines. he works for a power house that building in the suburbs. the project will be completed in two years. the plant is designed to generate 28,000 kilowatts of electricity. that's one quarter of the nation's power supply. the project is facing a around the savannah are wid

difficult to rack up those fares and serve customers are the cabs city limits. so we just arrived at reagan airport which is just right outside of washington d.c. and not our cab driver was nice enough to drop us off here only he can't get a return fare back he has to leave and go all the way back to d.c. without anybody in his cab simply because of the regulations. that requires another permit that a driver may or may not be able to get and on this day at this time maybe that makes sense there aren't the lines i've waited in countless times for a cab here when there just don't seem to be enough in lieu of customers there actually seems to be a glut of taxis that are. moving on we need another driver with more complaints about the rules one is what he says is a recent change of prohibition on ride sharing. if. he's in the heart of any of the cab or something and i have another person to drive all my way i cannot take my because there's no sure right. perhaps that's one reason why we've started to see more cars like this appear on streets a business opportunity for a company lookin

you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. and any given city whether you're sitting in new york or london where many of our viewers are there is a cab industry and very likely regulations that govern it in new york the medallion system has become a speculative investment with corporate taxi medallions increasing as thousand per cent from their average price of fifty thousand dollars in one thousand nine hundred eighty according to the new york post in stockholm reportedly their system is a little freer market where taxis are allowed to charge whatever price they like and in d.c. where after countless nights waiting in long lines after arriving to the train station with a dearth of cabs and some that couldn't even drive to my address because of the limits of their permits and rules governing them i hopped into a couple cabs to explore our own cities silly regulations and one market antidote we possibly found them. sexy. taxi in washington d.c. like many other cities you can't always get a cab when and where you need one but when you do catch a taxi and meet its driver

president obama. >> greta: well, it appears to many in the city that it's politico check mate for the president. if we go over the fiscal cliff, what it means is the taxes will go up on the wealthy, the big earners. it also goes up on the middle class. i assume the middle class will look to the rawp republicans foe fact that their taxes come up so political check mate. >> i'm not so sure. president obama could avoid that very simply by putting maybe two or three to one expenditure reductions on the table for revenue increases, something like sim responsibl simpson bow. he has a formula given to him by a commission he appointed and he's totally rejected that formula and presented to the republicans a program which was basically just a massive tax increase over and above the massive tax increase that's going to take place with the bush tax cuts expiring, so i don't see where there's -- he hasn't given them room to compromise. maybe if he had put his tax increases on the table and put up expenditure reductions of, you know, one and a half to one and republicans can negotiate it to two or

searches for theowest price. and if it findone, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all youeed is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind. citi price rewind. - ♪ 'cause people got me questioning ♪ ♪ where is the love - ma'am. you forgot your purse. - thank you. oh. thank you very much. - a message from the foundation for a better life. gerri: world'stests gerri: the world's hottest cars are taking the stage for the 2012 los angeles auto show. automakers unvei unveiling near0 new vehicles. including world first from chrysler, ford, gm, bmw andswag volkswagen. a sneak peak before friday's public debut, consumer reports is live in los angeles with the very latest. you here. such a fun segmentment tell me, first, what trends are you seeing out there? something that might be new or different that people can expect coming up. >> sure. the l.a. show, you see a lot of electric cars, fuel efficient cars. there are the electric cars, but we're se

ancient acropolis, symbol of a glorious past. and some parts of the city bustle with holiday energy. but not far away: closed-up storefronts. and, further below the surface, this: a health clinic set up by the greek branch of the international aid group, doctors of the world to serve the country's newly poor. dr. nikitis kanakis is its director. >> brown: kanakis group, in fact, had to cut back some of its work in africa because of the needs at home. here in perama, unemployment tops 50% as the shrinking economy has crippled much of the local shipping industry. at the same time, the deeply indebted greek government has made dramatic budget cuts, including to health benefits. the combination has left many here without access to private or public care. and that's meant a stunning rise in disease and mortality rates. >> brown: economists, of course, speak of a different kind of necessary medicine: the kind a deeply indebted nation must take. the price for living and consuming well beyond its means for far too long. >> the medicine is necessary. it was, though, delivered very abruptly.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: president obama cuts short his vacation to head back to washington, while harry reid says the country is headed toward the fiscal cliff. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight, we have the latest on efforts to avert the looming deadline from todd zwillich of public radio international. >> brown: then, geo-politics and children: russia moves to end adoptions by american parents. >> warner: what austerity measures look like at street level: we have a report from athens. >> by the end of 2013 greece would have a worse depression than the great depression in the u.s. >> brown: a player in campaign politics, but what of the current debt debate? we talk with tea party ally, matt kibbe. >> warner: and as e.p.a. chief lisa jackson steps down, we assess the track record of the administration's environmental agency. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> warner: five days and counting with plenty of tit-for- tat charges, but no agreement in sight. that, in short, summed up the state of affairs in washington today as the fiscal cliff deadline loomed, january first. it would mean more than $600 billion in across-the-board tax increases and automatic spending cuts. >> come the first of this year, americans will have less income than they have today. if we go over the cliff, and it looks like that's where we're headed. >> warner: this morning, the senate's democratic majority leader, harry reid, was blunt about chances for a deal. and he blamed house speaker john boehner. just before christmas, boehner floated his so-called "plan b"-- letting taxes rise on millionaires. but faced with opposition in republican ranks, he pulled it, and sent the house home for the holiday. reid charged today politics explained why the speaker had not yet called the house back. >> john boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing. it's obvious what's going on. he's waiting until january 3 to get reelected to speaker before he gets serious about negotiations. >> warner: a boenhner spokesman shot back, "harry reid should talk less and legislate more." but late today, republican leaders put out word that the house will reconvene on sunday. yesterday, they challenged the senate to take the next step, by extending the bush-era tax cuts for all income groups. in a joint statement, they said, "the house will take... action on whatever the senate can pass, but the senate first must act. " president obama returned early from hawaii today, still pushing to extend tax cuts for the middle class, but raise rates on the well-off. aides said he made phone calls last night to speaker boehner and house minority leader nancy pelosi, as well as senator reid and his opposite number, minority leader mitch mcconnell. but today, mcconnell gave no indication of movement. >> last night i told the president we'd be happy to look at whatever he proposes, but the truth is we're coming up against a hard deadline here, and as i said this is a conversation we should have had months ago. and republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything senate democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. >> reporter: adding to the urgency, treasury secretary timothy geithner warned he'll have to begin taking "extraordinary measures" to postpone a goverent default. the government is on track to hit its borrowing limit on monday, he said with no prospect of congressional action to raise the limit. here now to help us unravel what's going on is todd zwillich. he's washington correspondent for "the takeaway" on public radio international. todd, welcome back. decode this for us. are the players privately as bleak about the prospects as their public statement suggests? >> not as bleak, margaret, but bleaker than they were even a week ago and that's not terribly encouraging. the president as you reported is flying back to washington last night and some members of congress are coming back earlier than others. there will be some meetings here, there have to be some meetings between the principals and the president. there are a couple of options in the last couple of days even though it seems like five days is terribly, terribly short. there shall bills floating out there to keep tax rates where they're at for people making $250,000 and below. th could slide around. there's a senate bill that floats around. there's the president's offer which could still be amended. option 3, of course. is to go over the cliff and fight this out on january 1. >> warner: are there any meaningful back-channel negotiations going on? >> leadership aides on both sides say the channels have been open even during the christmas break. when the president called senator mcconnell and others last night, senator mcconnell made clear to say that's the first time he's talked to a democrat since thanksgiving. now that sounds like they haven't been talking at all but that's not true because we all know the president and the speaker have been engaged in close negotiations and their staff even closer. even when the speaker and the president don't talk the negotiators do. >> warner: why late today did speaker boehner call for the house to reconvene on sunday? >> because he knows that there is going to be something probably to vote on and even if there's not the president has flown back, the senate is here, the country is watching. if you were the speaker of the house would you want your members to be seen as him on vacation zipping champagne on new year's eve and everybody else is in washington working. it's a combination of optics for sure, not wanting to be seen as off on vacation, but there is likely to be something that democrats muster to get voted on. it would have to probably get through the senate first but john boehner may need his members here. >> warner: now you heard mitch mcconnell refer to -- "we're happy to look at anything the president proposes." what is the president's role right now? >> well, the president ran on tax rates. the president right now, his role is knee deep, margaret. there have been other iterations of debt talks, supercommittee, where you saw the president try to really keep arm's length from a dysfunctional congress. the congress -- the democratic house and the republican senate have proved that they don't have any common ground on taxes. there's nothing that one side can agree to that the other side will agree to. that's the president's role here having run on tax increases for people making $250,000 and above, not to mention all that entitlement talk. he ran on it and he won. he'll have to fight this out next year for sure. he would like to get some of the math off of the table here if he can. >> warner: are there schools of thought in both parties that each may think he's going to be in the stronger position after going over the cliff? >> certainly. "people" on both sides who think that. liberal democrats in particular say this republican orthodoxy, no tax increases at all, remember, those bush tax rates expire on new year's eve and they say if we go over the so-called fiscal cliff, take all the tax votes you want, they're ll tax cut votes. and conservative republicans believe their bargaining position improves. you reported on the debt limit but that becomes more of a concern as february approaches. they think they have leverage there to come bean the debt limit with the debate over more spending cut and more leverage on what they want from taxes. so there are strong voices on both sides so they say go over. >> warner: we better fasten our seat belts. ed to >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": a ban on adoptions from russia; the impact of austerity in greece; the tea party and the fiscal cliff and the administration's environmental record. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: wall street was down much of the day, but trimmed its losses after news that the house will convene sunday to focus on the fiscal cliff. in the end, the dow jones industrial average shed 18 points to close at 13,096. the nasdaq fell four points to close under 2,986. also today, the labor department reported the number of new claims for unemployment benefits fell this week to the lowest level since march of 2008. president obama is urging dockworkers and shippers to avoid a crippling strike at atlantic and gulf coast ports. it would be the first since 1977. the workers' union contract expires this weekend, and a white house spokesman said today the two sides need to agree on a contract extension as soon as possible. talks broke down last week in a dispute over wages and royalties. the christmas season storm that blasted the south and midwest swept across the upper northeast and new england today and the death count climbed to 16. the system dumped a foot or more of snow in parts of pennsylvania, upstate new york and new hampshire. in some places, snow brought road travel to a standstill. at the same time, operations at major airports improved, with far fewer delays than earlier this week. in india, the embattled prime minister remained under pressure to take action against sexual assaults after a gang rape this month triggered violent protests. manmohan singh promised a thorough review of india's rape laws and efforts to expedite trials. meanwhile, police moved to quell a rally by about 500 students protesting the treatment of women as they moved toward a monument in new delhi. the students complained officials had declared the site off limits. >> ( translated ): we are taking out this peaceful protest. we don't have any conflict with the police. we have just come here to express our stand. all the students are expressing their opinions here as you can see so the police should allow all of us to pass through to the place. this is only our demand and nothing else. >> holman: the rape that ignited the protests was that of a 23- year-old woman attacked by six men, then thrown from a moving bus. overnight, she arrived in singapore via air ambulance for treatment of severe internal injuries. doctors described her condition as extremely critical. the top prosecutor in egypt has ordered an investigation of major opposition leaders for allegedly inciting revolt. an official in the prosecutor's office said today the probe will focus on nobel peace laureate mohammed el-baradei, former foreign minister amr moussa andormepresential candidate hamdeen sabahi. all three oppose islamist president mohammed morsi and the country's new constitution. the new u.s. senator from hawaii democrat brian schatz was sworn in today. he'd been lieutenant governor for the last two years. now, he replaces fellow democrat daniel inouye, who died this month at the age of 88. schatz took the oath of office on the senate floor after being tapped by hawaii's governor. the new senator said he'll seek election in his own right, in 2014. inouye wanted hawaii congresswoman colleen hanabusa to take his seat. she said today she respects the governor's choice. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to margaret. >> warner: we turn now to russia, where a proposed new law on adoptions, causing alarm in the united states, came a step closer to being enacted today. ray suarez has the story. >> reporter: in moscow today, president vladimir putin said he does intend to sign a bill that bars americans from adopting russian children. >> you know, after all in the world there are probably a lot places where the quality of life is better than re, but so what? are we going to send all the children there? maybe we should move there ourselves. we need to support the proposal which is directed at doing everything in our own country in order to provide for a worthy future for all of our children. >> reporter: yesterday, russian lawmakers gave final approval to the legislation. it was, pointedly, named after a russian toddler who died after his adoptive american father left him in a hot car in 2008. the adoptions bill is a direct response to "the magnitsky act," signed this month by president obama. it slaps sanctions on russian human rights violators. russian president putin and other kremlin leaders have roundly condemned that measure. >> this is thout any doubt an unfriendly act towards the russian federation. and the main point here is not about officials that are not allowed to have bank accounts there or whose property will be controlled. >> reporter: but the russian response-- banning u.s. adoptions-- has garnered criticism even inside the country. >> ( translated ): concerning the law itself, of course it disappoints me, because we know a lot of instances when children who have no future here end up in the united states, and get a loving family and a future because the government takes care of them. >> reporter: americans have adopted more than 60,000 russian children in the st t decas. the impending ban means families currently in the adoption process are left in limbo. >> we've already started preparing our home. not remodeling or painting or buying furniture or anything but just preparing the emotional state of our home of ourselves and children for the change that is going to occur. >> reporter: for their part, senior officials in moscow have indicated that the bill will block children already selected for u.s. adoption from leaving russia. when it's signed into law, the adoption ban will take effect on january first. >> suarez: for more on all of this we are joined by lauren koc the director of development and communications at the national council for adoption, a nonprofit organization that promotes adoption. and fiona hill-- a senior fellow at the brookings institution who recently served as the national intelligence officer for russia at the national intelligence council. her upcoming book is titled "mr. putin: operative in the kremlin." welcome to you both. fiona hill, is this even about adopted children at all or is this about a more confrontational stance towards the united states? >> well, it i now about adopted children which, of course, the story makes very clear. but it's come out of really campaign politics on both sides of the united states and in russia. mr. putin first actually survived a bruising campaign to become president again in spite of the fact that everybody saw him as a shoe-in and as part of that campaign he did ratchet up anti-american sentiment. he blamed protests that took place around the elections for the russian parliament and around the presidential elections, many thousands of people out in the streets in moscow and elsewhere, he blamed those on the u.s. support. he's taken punitive action against u.s. n.g.o.s. he's declared many non-governmental organizations in russia that received foreign funding, especially funding to the united states to be foreign agents, people now under a new legislation have to register themselves as foreign agents and this is also part of that. >> so by ratcheting up anti-american sentiment does this kind of thing play well where with the russian public? keeping the offense inside the country -- the orphans inside the country rather than letting them go into the united states? >> well, part of the story is also the legislation that's just gone through the congress that the president signed last week and this is seen in many respects as a tit for tat, the u.s. always, in the russian view applies a double standard and is always taking punitive action and applying sanctions against rush so that so this does play well. however, i think as we saw from the clips at the begining there's been some soul searching on the part of many russians about the this particular bill because this is a disproportionate action. this is something that hurts russian children as well as ordinary families. so this is really sort of taking things in a very different angle. >> suarez: lauren koch, in an era where international adoptions have become more common in the united states, where does russia rank as the home country of foreign-born adoptys here? >> historically russia has been one of the most popular sending countries to america. right now china is the leading country. russia is certainly in the top 5 with over 700,000 orphans in that country. there's certainly plenty of children who need a loving family here in the united states. >> suarez: how about that side of the story. unicef estimate there is's only about 18,000 russian families looking to adopt children. that's a disproportionate number considering the need for new homes. >> it is. last year alone here in america there were a thousand children adopted from russia. there are many american families, many of whom right now are in the process of adopting these children that are willing, ready, and able to adopt these kids, some of which have severe special needs. so it speaks to the heart of esamerican families that are willing to adopt these kids and bring them home. the. >> suarez: but there have been unfortunate stories that have gotten a lot of attention here in the united states and back in russia >> does that make things more difficult for your organization and others that are watching international adoptions? >> sure, well, i think what we have to remember here is there have been over 45,000 children from russia have that have come to america. most of whom thrive in healthy, successful families here. the very small number of caes of abuse, neglect and very terrible cases death shouldn't account for such a large number of successful adoptions that have happened. i would hate to see orphans in russia now suffer simply because of a couple of very tragic and sad instances here which, by all means, should never be overlooked. any cases in which a child is in a harmful situation should always be taken very seriously. >> suarez: fiona, we saw the russian president, mr. putin, talking about keeping the kids here and taking care of them here. is there a nationalist aspect to this? is it considered an embarrassment to russia that so many kids-- more than 700,000-- have no place to live? >> i think that's certainly case. in fact, if you look at these instances, there's always a national element to something like this. there's certainly plenty of people in the united states who also believe that would be parents should be adopting here in the united states and taking care of their own children. this is, as i said, a phenomenon that you hear in european cou reis and others that there's resistance building up in many places to transnational, to international adoptions and often this kind of sentiment plays very well but i think as lauren will probably tell us, from the very statistics it doesn't always translate into stepped-up adoptions at home and certainly not into more many orphanages and for the extensive care systems that children require. so actually i have to see if because mr. putin is now stuck some of his reputation on this, he made those pronouncements as we saw on the t.v. clip at his big annual press call and he's laid out in many respects a commitment to do more so we'll have to see if that is indeed the case. >> suarez: lauren, haven't other count freeze time to time either curtailed or shut down totally the flow of children to the united states? >> we have seen this. most notably probably guatemala, ethiopia. that was a potential recently. we've also seen president putin threaten very similar bans on american-russian adoptions in the past. and he has before now never signed a ban like that and what we can hope for right now is that he won't find it still and that we can make sure these children find safe, loving families. >> suarez: this isn't the only irritant in the russo-american relationship, is it, fiona. hasn't the russian duma recently passed another bill making it difficult for the united states? >> they have. as i already mentioned, unfortunately we've been in this reciprocal actions and legislative combat for several months now since the elecion campaigns on both sides of the atlantic and we've already seen the russian duma pass legislation that's been punitive against some governmental organizations in part driven by the this idea that the u.s. government is sponsoring some of the political protests against president putin's presidency. so we're in that kind of phase that unfortunately we're in very frequently in the u.s.-russian relationship. if we look back over the last 20 years, since the collapse of the soviet union, we've constantly tried to reset the relationship with russia and time and again after a brief period of you poor ya about a new partnership or start, we end up within several months to a year of being right back again to some kind of spot over spying, over legislation that's perceived as a double standard by the russians or over some large issue. there's many irritants, unfortunately, in the relationship. >> suarez: fiona hill, lauren koch, thank you both. >> thank you. >> brown: next, the european financial crisis as it's playing out at street level. i had a chance to see for self recently on a reporting trip to athens. for nearly two decades, stelios karagilanis, a father of two, headed a family-owned construction company. today, his business closed, he is forced to accept free medical care and food from an aid clinic. >> ( translated ): we never imagined it. we were never wanting for work and we had a very dignified lifestyle. >> brown: is it hard to have to come here? >> ( translated ): it is very, we are not used to this way of life. >> brown: karaglilanis and others we met in athens recently put faces to grim statistics: a stunning 26% unemployment rate. 58% for young people like george georgopoulos, a college graduate who's decided he must leave the country for now. >> i hope to move abroad for a master's degree. it was my dream. but now i have to do it. >> brown: greece's economy is entering its sixth year of recession and has shrunk by a fifth in just the last three years. paralyzing businessmen like shipbuilder vassilis halkitis, who had to lay off half his workers. >> ( translated ): we're talking to a major client about building six new ships of 60 meters in length. however, the client is holding back on the contract until he is convinced that greece will not go bankrupt. >> brown: for individuals it all adds up to a reduced standard of living and an uncertain future. for greece as a whole, it means that and more. the headlines are about finance ministers, debt deals, austerity measures. but it's become clear that he problem here in greece now goes well beyond just the economy. as a recent european commission report says: after years of weak growth, the crisis is now having severe social consequences. look up and you still see the ancient acropolis, symbol of a glorious past. and some parts of the city bustle with holiday energy. but not far away: closed-up storefronts. and, further below the surface, this: a health clinic set up by the greek branch of the international aid group, doctors of the world to serve the country's newly poor. dr. nikitis kanakis is its director. >> brown: kanakis group, in fact, had to cut back some of its work in africa because of the needs at home. here in perama, unemployment tops 50% as the shrinking economy has crippled much of the local shipping industry. at the same time, the deeply indebted greek government has made dramatic budget cuts, including to health benefits. the combination has left many here without access to private or public care. and that's meant a stunning rise in disease and mortality rates. >> brown: economists, of course, speak of a different kind of necessary medicine: the kind a deeply indebted nation must take. the price for living and consuming well beyond its means for far too long. >> the medicine is necessary. it was, though, delivered very abruptly. >> brown: as a government economic advisor, gikas hardouvelis helped negotiate some of the budget cuts and austerity measures greece agreed to in order to get international bailouts, more than $300 billion now with the private eurobank, he says the swift fall, however necessary, is bringing pain at historic levels. >> by the end of 2013 greece would have a worse depression than the great depression in the u.s. >> brown: worse than the great depression? >> yes and this depression is affecting everyone. i would say the middle class is carrying the burden and it is carrying the burden because the state sector is unable to distribute the burden in an equal way. >> brown: and that has hardouvelis worried about a further consequence: a tearing of the social fabric. >> they simply lost their living standard and they're trying to find a scapegoat for it. it's very important in this period for greeks to see the positive side things and not eat each other up. >> brown: "not eat each other up": the scapegoating, so far, has centered on immigrants from africa, afghanistan and elsewhere. by boat or across the turkish border, greece has functioned for years as an easy-to-enter gateway into the rest of europe. and one that by all accounts

interesting that in this city, washington, dc. most panels about iran are about the nuclear program and almost nothing about the political prisoners. it send a terrible signal to the iranian public because it means you do care about your own security, you do care about the implications of the islamic republic becoming a nuclear armed state, but what happens in iran does not matter to the washington elite. this is the signal washington has been sending to iran, and i think this panel and initiative to make human rights issue more important issue on the agenda, a signal to the iranian public telling them you do understand that a government which is treating its own population can of course not be trusted when it comes comes to its international relations, and just imagine how it would behave if it is also armed with a nuclear weapon. the revolutionary guard inherited the state. then khomeini was making promises in the 1960s and 1970s. he promised the people of iran not democracy. he promised them justice in this world and salve vacation in -- salvation in the next. so, no one has retu

-- >> greg: no, no. they are talking about the officers which is why the crime dropped in new york city schools they have a school safety program with police officers there. >> greg: i'm not sure that it follows the same program or pattern as new york. >> bob: not like new york. you come back to chicago but these are gang-drug related wars in chicago. >> kimberly: so is it okay? he is not doing a good job. >> bob: it's the drug wars. >> eric: so are you saying don't arm them? telling us how great it is in new york. >> bob: i agree with andrea. the local should make a decision. if they think there is a rough school. >> eric: it should be done at local level but we don't need rahm emanuel saying it shouldn't happen or david gregory giving lapierre a hard time when his kids go to school with 11 armed guards. and the people we pet up yesterday with those who own handguns? do you know you have ten times more likely chance of being, of violent crime happening to you in new york city where there is no concealed carry allowed in the city, versus one of the cities, one of the towns right there.

. the designer of washington city there was a competition and he submitted design for a palace. americans are not having a palace. it was not particularly on inspiring. in fact in 1821 a european diplomat told the congress that it was neither large nor on inspiring. but the answer the congressman dave said the building served its purpose. if it were larger and more elegant, perhaps some president would be inclined to become its permanent resident. >> former new york times photo credit has gathered a few of her favorite white house fellows in the white house, the president's home and photographs of history. one sunday evening and 730 eastern and pacific on american history tv. >> as president obama begins his second term in office but is the most important issue he should consider for 2013? >> if you are in grade 6-12 make a short video. >> the video competition with your chance for a grand prize of $5000. 50,000 in total prices. the deadline is january. for more information go to a student cam. .. >> i think they served as a window on the past to what was going on with american

our own cities silly regulations and one market antidote we possibly found them taxi. tanks the in washington d.c. like many other cities you can't always get a cab when and where you need one but when you do catch a taxi and meet its driver and my name is not. always right you know it's almost for you. like nasser he or she can offer up a reason when and why cabs become scarce of them you know. when you're driving cabs to the dad to this. i'd say. too dangerous unsafe and on top of that the business is controlled by a commission that decides everything from how many cabs are on the road to where they can pick up to what they can charge the mid think is fair. because the price is going to go out but if it is the same thing and making it difficult to rack up those fares and serve customers are the cabs and city limits. so we just arrived at reagan airport which is right outside of washington d.c. and nasr our cab driver was nice enough to drop us off here only he can't get a return fare back he has to leave and go all the way back to d.c. without anybody in his cab simply because of

anywhere in the city that's legal. and you're on your way to go don so first some of the cities travelers and drivers and cabs looking to get around regulations hoping for this overwhelmed by president to be given like a look does your meter does your fear thank you very much you haven't is there we may have found a solution just minus the driver. and joining me now is nicholas calling he's president and c.e.o. of car to go north america and we get to pick his brain about this very interesting business model so first of all thank you so much for being on the show good afternoon or nice to be here great so you know let's start because actually anecdotally i mean my producer discovered card ago when we were talking to a colleague who spends a lot of time in georgetown which is an area of d.c. that really doesn't have great access to public transportation and she said oh i just use this thing called car to go so we looked more into it and you know there really is something that feels outdated sometimes about taxi cabs when you're sitting in a taxi cab line and there aren't any for example ca

. he looks at me and goes, this is new york city. you might want to gt that. i know lou: 98% of the prospective buyers will be liberal. >> take everything and put it in the chest and we buried in the ocean so no one will ever find it. lou: and it is striking when you refer to fox as the death star. talking about the death star as overwhelming all of those left wing that works we will call them. and it is really true. you get one of two reactions, at least i have. you work for fox and the other is thank god you work for fox. by the way, the latter reaction is the one that is 80 percent the time, at least. >> you will run into people that are not fans of fox and all it takeis about five minutes before you realize that they have never watched it. they will see something on a og or it will hear something and the assumption is, that is the enemy. are. lou: your book, at various points, conveys the sene that you would like tobe in a drunken aze, a significant portion of your time. we all know better, but i have to give you credit. the juxtaposition in one sentence is hard to d. >> that wa

not. 60% black a decade ago. now 50% black and 35% white. 42,000 blacks have left the city. >> i can walk to wherever i need. a car.t have is a lot of night life everything is very accessible. the city is a lot richer. median income up to $61,000. >> we are disappointed in the have received. >> these pastors said this vandalism is a reaction to a plan to build low-income housing for seniors. hettos," it say. who has money is able to get want.hey who is trying to do services forced out. y know they areot dealing with white racists but the church gets a message. the survey shows that d.c. is 34 years.unger, that is six months younger than 2000. are more hispanic men the cities. 8000 more, 2000 more agents. -- more asians. christieto come, chris for help on capitol hill. how this could make a difference for millions of people. happening see it at side of the wilson building. ready for. is getting inauguration. >> call tonight, clouds are moving in. we will have that for you coming up. i look down at the national christmas tree. with gordon peterson, maureen meteorologist at kill in

bolling, greg gutfeld. it's 5:00 in new york city. this is "the five." ♪ ♪ >> andrea: they're back. many of the key players returned to washington after the christmas break. president arrived back and senators back, too. one person isn't spotted yet on the beltway is house speaker john boehner and harry reid took him to task for it earlier. demanding that he bring the chamber of commerce back to session for a deal to be struck. >> the house of representatives with four days left aren't here with the speaker having told them he will give them 48 hours' notice. if we go over the cliff it will be with the knowledge that could have been done with a single vote. >> andrea: boehner's spokesman said reid should talk less. the speaker insists the senate should ask first for members to reconvene on sunday. we can go off the cliff. pass the obama tax cut and reinstate the sequester cuts to things like he likes like the national institute of health and cut the defense budget. put republicans in the corner to say you want to bring a bill to the floor? be my guest. am i right? >> bob: my, you a

mother. the kansas city chief's nfl player who shot his girlfriend. surveillance video showed a mother allegedly sneaking her little daughter out of the hospital. doctors had warned the young leukemia patient had something in her heart that would kill her within days if they didn't deal with it. now word of a major development. what her father reportedly says about where that child is right now. stay close. same item at walmart f less? gee okay. fijit friends. fifteen bucks on rollback. wow! that's a savings of over 29 bucks! twenty-nine bucks!!?? and they're powered by friendship. see for yourself if you could save on brands you want. walmart. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. ♪ [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. and at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. come to the winter event and get the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an excep

? since so many of us are looking for better jobs, i love the city left a job you love to do this. that. you said that you might write something else. were you going to do next? >> sure. the good news about this is that for me, when writing this book, there are certain things i could never write about. like any type of ongoing criminal investigation in any of that information is just completely out of bounds for me. you know, there is all sort of grand jury concerns and investigations. when i wrote this book, what i decided to do was instead of doing anything that would require industry permission, a stop to the topics and issues that i knew came nowhere even close to any type of privileges. whether criminal law or otherwise. other privileges as well. as an office, we were required to be under certain things. but i really touch on areas that i did not have to run my butt by the treasury department in any way shape or form. they weren't happy about the hard truth that i tried to deliver in this book. so it really wasn't -- i really didn't do anything or go in any of those areas. you know

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inside a suitcase. >> that's the ultimate nightmare that some terrorist group will get their hands on a nuclear device and set it off in new york or washington or some other city. (instrumental music) >> the president wants $489 billion in defense cuts over ten years. pentagon officials say the goal is to create a smaller, flexible force that can fight traditional wars and mount special operations. >> now that we know the threats that are out there, where is our money being spent? >> the congressional budget office had an estimate that they put the total u.s. spending for defense at $699 billion. now, that is 20 percent of all federal spending, that is more than half of all discretionary spending. it's a substantial commitment to the united states. >> we spend less and less of our defense dollars on things that actually defend us. fifty percent of our defense budget goes to personnel. much of that personnel is bureaucratic personnel manning various defense department sites. >> currently much of the money is going to conventional needs, personnel, r and d and nuclear weapons. >> the cong

symbolize the economy more than the unfinished construction projects in new york city. each began with hope and promise and ran head first to environment filled with uncertainty. >> they are empty monument to bad economy. the developers have been left incomplete until they secure financing. they say the institutional construction lending has not bounced back from the 2008 economic crisis. >> they run out of money or combination of running low on money and not having enough sales where the condominium or co-op sales or the market for rentals doesn't appear to be strong enough to justify completion of the project. >> right now, the city says there are 691 star projects. number by 17%. half are 45% stalled since 2009. try and kick start construction, american institute of architect has a web site where they pitch the project to potential investors and by pass the banks. other cities have seen the housing construction rebounds by as much as 18%. all signs of a growing national turn-around. some say construction spending is cyclical. in 1976, the manhattan posh upper east side dotted with the un

city tonight. for instance some of the spending in this pork-ladened bill would provide one millio dollars for trees in cemeteries. $4 million for sand dunes at kennedy space center. not beaches up here where they need dunes. $2 million for a new roof at the smithsoni is this bill really a relief bill or pork bill for mem, about of the congress? >> what you find, adam, basically they have caps on overall spending when. they do the emergency supply meant metals all of sudden the caps are irrelevant. all of sudden it is free cash. it is free-for-all for lawmakers trying to get money for the pet projects. you may get the smithsonian roofs may have been damaged by sandy but atime of budget crunch we have to prioritize and only do the most important and critical things. adam: isn't this thing turn voters against members of coress? we have cars for the fbi but office equipment. i don't reca superstorm sandy taking out washington, d.c. or the fbi headquarters? >> they may have had facilities in the area with vecles destroyed it comes back to. gsa has a lot of vehicles. some will come out

news studios in new york city. >> for the past few weeks i have 48 city scarlet i met several hundred who watch the show every week. there is political gridlock on both parties and many of you are concerned about the country. your kids and grand kids could have a better life in you. the recurring theme i heard over and over was the sense that our leaders weren't leading and they aren't listening. the elections accident a clear message. they said meet the new boss instesame as the old boss. same president, same senate, same house. we truly made have will sunk the titanic. we may have put too much hope in human beings could have solved problems in many cases not nearly as booed good at it. you at least balance your checkbook at home and you pay your bills and you show up for work. washington hasn't balanced it's checkbook. it has to borrow money from the chinese to pay its bills. barely shows any real work or progress on our behalf. maybe they just aren't listening to us any more. it occurred to me if they won't listen to us i wonder if they will listen to a stronger voice. i wo

most populated city in syria, it is in northern syria. there is a local part of the city, the countryside as well. the countryside and the city make up the government -- [inaudible] of syria. all of the perl -- the 70% of the cities have been stripped away. the first enacted in the cities is i was hosted by veteran prerevolutionary [inaudible] , that is eerie and citizens going to get it to do what they can. the first thing we did it to her. most of the shops were closed down. to be honest with you, -- by the way, i am using aleppo is a case in point. to be honest, i thought that i would need -- [inaudible] we were very le we were very lesson and surprised. the operation we encountered was a lot more sophisticated than i thought. they held elections. the chairman was a highly educated person with a phd, doctor [inaudible name]. they also started the committee on the local administration and the committee on finance making sure that every penny is accounted for. we are working on a number of projects to stabilize the city and help our transition. >> can you say the two words ab